


Mercy Give; Mercy Take

by ellaxcx



Category: Disney - All Media Types, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, And I mean its a real flip flop of emotion my friends, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Gothel is here only in spirit, Running Away, Theres a bit of Rapunzel/Eugene and Hiccup/Astrid but its before this takes place, its too long and very wordy and im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 13:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13952085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellaxcx/pseuds/ellaxcx
Summary: Swallowing the apprehension building in his chest, Hiccup breathes once and moves to open the door.Standing there, drenched to the bone, hand raised to knock again, is a vision of stark blonde hair and wide green eyes."Rapunzel." He stutters, suddenly very unsteady.or,Rapunzel runs away. And then, she comes back.





	Mercy Give; Mercy Take

Hiccup sighs, fighting to keep his eyes open, his body upright; he fumbles with the locks for a moment, before hip checking the door closed. He drops his keys into the bowl (a house warming gift from his mom) and looks out to his tiny, cozy apartment. He thinks about making the long trip to his room, shedding all his clothes and getting into bed. It's a daunting thought. He is tired.

Just below him, he can make out the faint sounds of his neighbors. Arguing or fucking or throwing some truly awful party on a Tuesday. They are the worst people in all of human existence, as far as Hiccup is concerned. If it weren't for the next to nothing rent of this rinky dink place, he'd be gone in a heartbeat.

Before he has a has chance to sigh again—long suffering and put upon—his phone vibrates in his pocket. It makes the tired sweep over him, waves crashing against his stiff bones and cold joints. The mere thought of having a conversation with another human, makes his headache pound against his skull. He doesn't have to check to know it's either his Dad or Astrid and he'd rather swallow sand than talk to either of them at the moment.

Instead he becomes suddenly aware of the grumbling in his stomach; and the uncomfortable pull of his rain soaked clothes against his skin. He can't decide which is a more pressing issue.

Just as he decides he should probably at least shed his coat, someone timidly knocks on his door.

He wonders, distantly, how long he's been standing there and if Astrid is wild enough to drive out in the middle of the night to yell about his bar tab. (The answer is, of course, yes) Or maybe she has bad news. Maybe it's his _Dad_. Dammit.

Swallowing the apprehension building in his chest, Hiccup breathes once and moves to open the door.

Standing there, drenched to the bone, hand raised to knock again, is a vision of stark blonde hair and wide green eyes.

"Rapunzel." He stutters, suddenly very unsteady.

\---

She smiles apologetically, though it's a world away from the one that sometimes takes hold of his dreams. This is a ghost of a thing, fragile, like she has to remember to move her face that way. Hiccup swallows the all the words he cannot say, before they have even a moment to form.

She's wearing a too big army jacket, that hangs awkwardly off her body. A maroon shirt, that falls much the same, and ratty ripped jeans. Her hair is uneven and messy, though just as long as he remembers. The bangs that keep catching her eyelashes are new, though.

It's the girl made of memories and soft sunshine, the same one. Except not really. She is so...small. Hunching in her jacket, hands balled in her pockets, head tilted down. The Rapunzel he knew was petite, never small. She always appeared too big for her skin, bright and blazing. Took up an entire room with just her smile. She was the sun.

Now, she looks, well...homeless.

There's a thousand things he could say, a thousand things he could do. All he wants, is wrap himself around her, launch himself into her gravity. He shuts his brain down, if only for the haunted look in her eyes.

"I-" she starts, seems to choke on her words, and takes a visible step back. Scuffing her beaten sneakers into the floor. Hiccup thinks, maybe, they were once white.

"Well aren't you going to come in?" He says, blinking back the onslaught of emotion welling up in him, more and more, minute by minute.

He conjures up what he hopes is a welcoming smile, but that was never his territory. Rapunzel was the warm counterpart to his chilly sarcasm. He hadn't quite learned to cope after his world stopped spinning

She looks fond for a fleeting moment before nodding jerkily and taking quick, cautious steps into his apartment.  

Rapunzel stands there awkwardly in the middle of his living room. His furniture is thrown together from hand-me-downs, yard sales, and flea markets. He's got mugs of empty to nearly empty coffee everywhere. More than one pile of old engineering books serving as a table. And brightly colored, patchwork throw blankets littering his couch.

There's pictures and sketches taped in seemingly random places, and at least three piles of miscellaneous projects laying around. All in all, it's a mess.

Even still, Rapunzel looks out of place in it.

She tightens her grip on her backpack, and looks back at him.

He feels bare under the weight of her stare. Having all the burning energy sharp focused on him is a feeling he never quite got used to. And even now with her dull, sleep sunken eyes, it still feels like he's being swallowed whole.

“I thought you’d be with your parents?” Hiccup offers, quietly. All he gets in response, is a deep, labored breath.

Sliding off his jacket, he says, "Flynn's place is-"

She cuts him off him off with the sharp shake of her head.

He furrows his eyebrows and takes the time to hang up his coat, where he normally wouldn't. "Why did you come to me, then?"

She shrugs, noncommittally.

"There's a homeless shelter a few blocks from here."

Rapunzel blinks owlishly at him, then laughs darkly, this twisted ugly thing, shoulders shaking with the weight of it. Her head shakes, nearly maniacal, neck snapping straight. He sees the tears filling her narrowed green eyes and the defensive line of her shoulders.

He sighs and walks over to her, willing her to turn and face him. He can't clamp down on the need to reach out and grab her shoulder. She sinks back into him, seemingly without noticing.

"I have a guest room that's mostly storage for broken dreams, at this point."

That gets a hesitant smile out her.

What have you gotten yourself into? He thinks furiously at himself.

\---

"What have you gotten yourself into?" Astrid barks at him, anger clouding her normally blue eyes. He fights the urge to roll his eyes, and taps the jingle from that one college commercial on the freshly cleaned bar. He knows she's only looking out for him, and has every right to be mad, but she never really grew out of treating him like he was that broken, lonely kid she dated in college.

The Dragon's Den is lit in a way it hardly ever is when actually open. There's a couple missing tables from last week's fight, but all in all it's a nice place. He spends way too much time in here–especially for his slight alcohol problem.

"What are you? Some kind of sadist? What makes you want to get hurt over and over again?” She fumes.

It's an oversimplification, if anything. A lot happened and all of it wasn't Rapunzel's fault, in fact, he'd venture to say most of it wasn't. It's just easier to pin all of it on her; he knows from experience.

"You're not doing it. I forbid it." She mutters sternly.

This time he does actually roll his eyes, and sharply says, "Well thank the gods I'm a grown, fully functioning adult."

Jack, he notes, has been curiously quiet through this whole thing. Staring off into the distance, as if someone has frozen him there. There's this faraway look in his eyes that makes a shiver run down Hiccup's spine.

It's quiet for a long tense moment, each of them in some weird parody of a stare off. Lost in their own conflicting thoughts.

"Can I see her?"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" Astrid huffed, yanking out the hard liquor.

\----

Last night after the both of them showered and changed into something less cold inducing, they sipped at Ramen Noodles and watched endless Grey's Anatomy reruns. And with everything that's between them, they stay diligently silent, not even daring to look at each other.

Sometime between two and five, Rapunzel dozes off. As small in sleep as she is in life. The sleeves of his hoodie falling over her wrists, arms wrapped around her legs, protectively curled into the arm of his beaten up couch.

He sighed and pulled a blanket over her, and tried his very hardest not to think.

With a couple of hours and two showers under his belt, he still couldn’t shake of the unease that crept in the moment Rapunzel did.

There's too much between them–years and years, a lifetime together. He gripped his overly large cup of coffee and watched her. Her nose still crinkles the same way; shallow, even breaths lulled away the tension coiling in his chest. She is his best friend, he realized. Through miles, and years, and baggage. She is still his best friend. Through the complicated, sticky emotions coloring their relationship.

He cannot let her down.

\---

-// An Interlude:

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She grumbles, stumbling out of bed and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Standing at her door, looking shaken and wild, stands Jackson Overland. He shoves his way in, and starts pacing, running his hand through his hair and tugging at the ends.

"Well good morning to you, too."

"It's nearly afternoon, Red." He mutters quietly, more out of habit than anything else, she can tell.

"If you've just come over to degrade my life choices you can fuck right off-"

"Rapunzel's home." He says swiftly, looking back at her with wide, wet blue eyes. He looks small in his hoodie, smaller than ever. The boy with a wicked laugh from a lifetime ago.

She falls back into her chair, wounded, "Shit."

-//

It's been five days living with Rapunzel and she hasn't spoken above a whisper. Drifting around his place looking lost and so, _sad_. She has two outfits, Hiccup has realized. The one she showed up in, and a dark blue sweater that falls over her hands.

Mostly, she looks at his stuff and reads. Hovering near his carefully constructed messes, narrowing her eyes at his sketches. She curls in the window seat, more often than not. Sitting there and combing through whatever he has lying around, sunshine making her hair look brighter than normal.

He's not exactly sure what she does when he leaves for school or work. But he figures it can't be much, considering she's always in the same spot he left her that morning.

Hiccup's sitting on the counter, eyebrows furrowed over his notebook. He's relentlessly tapping his pencil against the pages when she walks in from her nap.

He looks up, on instinct, only to find her staring right back at him. There's this nagging urge inside him, to get her to speak. Do anything but look at him or mumble a response to something he can't even recall saying the next day.

Sighing, he's about to turn back to his book when she says,

"No offense," it's so startling that his spine snaps straight, "but your place is a dump." Her tone is so so familiar that it aches. His fingers itch to rest on the soft spots of her jaw. Where he knows they fit perfect and snug. Instead, he focuses on her smile, barely there. Shaky, at best.

He snorts, turning around to face her, "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone."

"When a boulder comes flying through your window, don't blame me." She says mischievously, face made up of other people and other expressions, watching him with calculating eyes. There is so much, crazy complexities-- a web of emotions and thoughts, too fast and too vague for him to catch. All wrapped in the simple back and forth that they are known for.

He wonders if they can ever be the same.

"Wanna get out of here?"

Her smile is soft and warm, the light brightens her pale green eyes, if even for a second, "What did you have in mind?"

If he even wants it to.

\---

The place, Rapunzel thinks, screams Astrid and Jack. Her lack of knowledge on Astrid notwithstanding, there are imprints of her personality all over the bar. In the sturdy, old fashioned furniture and focus of function over style. But, the copious amounts of paintings and clutter everywhere, is all Jack.

She tugs on the sleeve of her sweater, and tries to disappear into the folds of her clothes and too long hair. Anxiety is buzzing in her fingertips, as she surveys the bar and comes across the group. Hiccup said they were dying to see her, but that didn't mean they were going to be as understanding as Hiccup. (Not that she deserved it). In fact, she was planning on letting them yell to their heart's content, taking whatever abuse they were going to dish out.

He must sense her hesitation, because Hiccup's fingertips graze her wrist, as if he was going to hold her hand but decided against it. Pausing for a second, Rapunzel considers everything between them, and what holding hands could shatter. She thinks about the way her heart seizes whenever he's around (something she couldn't ever shake) and if she's ready for the implications.

Not really.

But she sees it for what it is, an invitation, an olive branch.

Sucking in a breath, she tangles  their fingers together, marching forward and ignoring the tingle running up her spine.

Astrid is lounging in the booth, clunky boots propped on the table, much to the irritation of Jack. He tweaks his eyebrow, pushing at her legs and muttering profanities if she knows him the way she thinks she does. Merida watches in amusement, pushing a fry in her own personal concoction of dipping sauce.

Seeing them all together invokes something in her. She's used to the heavy dread that poisons her veins, the hollow tired that nips constantly at her ankles. Guilt, eating her alive. But them, together, looking as young as they did in high school, makes nostalgia bubble in her gut.

She's been trying to box off these pieces of herself for years, being confronted with the picture of her childhood is grounding in a way she can barely remember. The wave of emotions she's hit with range from negative to positive so quickly she feels the whiplash.  

"You can do this." Hiccup reassures her quietly, smiling as they catch the attention of his friends.

His. Not hers, not anymore.

Merida and her meet eyes first. They widen in almost disbelief, taking Rapunzel in with calculated slow blinks, mouth forming words Rapunzel can't make out. Her unruly hair is swept messily into a ponytail, strays falling into her face. She is more hardened than the rebellious teenager Rapunzel knew best, or the determined tomboy running in and out of her memories.

Tightening her grip on Hiccup as she turns to Jack. Her Jack. With stark white hair falling onto pale skin, deep blue eyes watching her attentively. He sparkles with the same playfulness that's been a constant since she's known him. But it's not as pronounced, hiding in the depths of the sadness that is the makeup of Jack.

She avoids Astrid's eyes because she knows she isn't strong enough to face the blazing hatred directed her way.

The few seconds of silence, as she and Hiccup stand there, is one of the more agonizing moments in her life--which is saying something--just waiting for the storm that's surely on its way. She has half a mind to just cut her loses and book it across country again, but Hiccup must sense that.

It's a shared trait between them, the cagey, stuck feeling eating away at their bones. Desire to run or fly away is never exactly gone. The only difference is, Hiccup stayed.

He squeezes her hand and sends a particularly firm look her way, before sliding in the booth and dragging her down with him. She flails a little helplessly, always just this side of clumsy, and basically falls on top of him into the seat.

Face flushed, she straightens and shoves Hiccup gently with her shoulder, fighting hard to keep the half smile off her face. It doesn't seem to work, considering the self satisfied smirk aimed her way. She should probably find it more annoying than she does. Their little bubble is burst, when Astrid speaks up, enviably. Rapunzel should've known she'd be the first to speak.

"Blondie," she greets, taking a little piece of Rapunzel's heart with her, "you staying for good?" Her tone is polite as Astrid can ever manage. It always makes Rapunzel a little happy.

She tenses at the question, the words _for good_ make her uncomfortable in ways they didn't before. This tiny little nothing town, is where everything went wrong. Where all of her demons still roam.

Hiccup feels it, as he stiffens too, Jack and Merida watching intently.

Rapunzel opens her mouth to answer, feeling the words clog in her throat. She hasn't had the courage to speak to anyone except Hiccup, and even that's close to nonexistent, since she's been back. The man that told her where he lived, did so because he recognized her. As everyone here seems to do.

She digs her nails into her palm, straightens her spine, and conjures the voice that just won't get out of her head. "As long as I got a place to stay." Adds an edge of meticulously  practiced humor to her voice, throws a half smile in for good measure.

That seems to do the trick, as they both relax at least a fraction. "You like the place?" Jack asks, proudly, all bravado. She sees the nerves in his eyes and the way he bites his lip.

"Very impressive. As nice as it is, I'm inclined to attribute that to Astrid." She replies, grinning.

He snorts, throwing an arm around Astrid’s shoulder, as they shake with silent laughter, "Please! If I wasn't around, this one would've turned this place into a fighting pit."

"I'd like to remind you who pays who here." She replies, completely without heat.

"You've got bangs." Merida says, suddenly, cutting short what would've surely been an intense argument.

"Goes with the whole drifter thing, don't you think?" Rapunzel hums, reaching up to fiddle with them.

"You look ridiculous."

"I'm flattered."

They're both grinning at each other like five year olds.

\----

Hiccup is scrolling through his phone, lap full of Rapunzel's brightly colored feet, as she moans and blinks at the ceiling.

"Your place is a mess."

"So you've said. Multiple times, in fact."

"I'm gonna clean it."

"Why exactly?" He asks, finally looking over at her. Because he's heard that tone before. That determined, single minded one that used to get him into trouble more often than not.

She rolls her eyes, and sits up, cross legged. Her shoulders are bunched together, head tilted down, "Because it needs to be cleaned?"

"What if I like it dirty?"

He doesn't. But he doesn't mind it either. His messes are normally organized, and enviable. He never sees much point to cleaning since the next week it'll look exactly the same.

Her eyebrows are furrowed, fists clenched in her lap. She looks like a flustered five year old, and he can't help but find it cute. "Hiccup, let me do this." And there's that desperation he heard on the first day. That sickening, heart constricting desperation, sinking into his veins and wrapping around his lungs.

Hiccup sighs, fights the urge to throw up, and nods. It's all he can do.

"Good." She smiles, and flops back down into the position they were in earlier. Picking at her sleeves.

\----

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Hiccup groans for what must be the tenth time today, lazily pushing their cart down the aisle.

Rapunzel dutifully ignores him, as she contemplates two cans of paint. They look identical, a very subtle yellow. He won't ask how they're different, having gone down that damn rabbit hole enough times to last a lifetime.

It should be startling how Rapunzel's come in and reshaped his life, more or less. He still goes to work, school and drops by Dragon's Den every so often, but he spends most of his time with her. Bickering, catching Rapunzel up on mostly HBO and Netflix shows, eating the sparse food in his kitchen, reading quietly together. They're attached at the hip as if they've never parted, and it should be worrying but it's not. Which is a can of worms in and of itself.

Most people know she's back, at this point, his Dad and Gobber have been hounding him about it nonstop. On the rare occasion they go out, he steadfastly ignores anyone he suspects would harass her, especially wherever her parents frequent.

They stare at him as if he's taken her all over again, crushing their lives, as they watch from a distance. He's dying to know what the hell happened there, but Rapunzel still hasn't brought it up and Hiccup isn't keen on pushing the very fine line they're currently on.

Merida and Jack constantly bother him about "hogging" Rapunzel time, but until she tells him that she wants to hang out with their friends, he isn't going to ask her about it. Somewhere under the dim light in his apartment, between cheap takeout and exhausting gaming sessions, they've found a fragile balance that Hiccup is loathe to break. He's constantly filtering his words, checking for shatter points and deep wounds, in a way that is almost completely out of his depth.  

Still, he'd do it for Rapunzel, a thousand times over.

(And if he's being totally honest with himself, some dark and twisted part of him enjoys being the center of her world.)

"This is worst idea in the history of ideas." He announced, trying to sneak like he wasn't watching her. In the seemingly endless rows and awful yellow lighting of the department store. The sight is a welcomed one, Rapunzel sighing and dejectedly placing a can back on the shelf. Only to pick up yet another one that looks exactly the same.

Rapunzel snorted, finally turning around to face him, "You'll like it in the long run. Now which one makes you feel-" she stopped suddenly, face horror stricken.

He's immediately on alert, snapping straighter and rushing over to her. "Punz?"

"So my sources are true, then." It's Flynn's voice, as smooth and collected as it was the day Hiccup met him. He looks dashing and subtly dangerous, all charm and calm, easy going smile. There is no way to know what's actually happening beneath the surface.

"Punz?" He asks again, fingers grazing the inside of her wrist, as he gently calls her attention.

Her eyes are glassy and wide; heartbroken. He knows the look well.

Rider must see what's about to happen, "Can we talk, Blondie?" It's a low blow, that Hiccup knows is going to work instantly.

Swallowing, Rapunzel braces her shoulders, and leans into Hiccup's hands just the slightest bit. "Yeah, of course." She says, softly.

"Alone." He insists.

Hiccup doesn't hold a grudge against Flynn Rider, in fact, he likes the guy. It's just that He and Rapunzel were all there was for awhile. A united front, ready to take on the world for each other. And then there was Merida and Jack, but that was okay, because in the end of it all, there was still them.

And then there was Flynn, then Astrid, and then...nothing.

So he doesn't hate the guy. He just wishes he'd let Rapunzel get on her feet before he came looking for whatever closure he needed.

Her eyes meet his again, wild and ever changing. Too much emotion to catch, all but the unending confusion and weariness he wishes he could save her from. He sees the the moment she makes up her mind, though.

She never could say no to Flynn Rider.

-// An Interlude:

There is a split second before she wakes up, when the darkness recedes and her brain hasn't had a chance to catch up, that she forgets.

But then she blinks, and as the light comes crashing down, so do the memories.

There's a laughing three year old in her arms, chubby and silly and so, so bright. Words getting jumbled in between her very few teeth and big cheeks, long blonde hair getting caught in her small fingers, as she stumbles through the word "Mama". She is in that same exact place. That moment when she realized she was gone.

Everyday is the same thing. Over and over and over. Stuck in constant limbo, tensing at every phone call, never daring to hope that _it's the call_.

She and her husband have stood together through it all, never stumbling in public, but falling apart alone, together.

And then. Her phone rings.

-//

"So." Rapunzel says, for lack of anything else. In his eyes, she sees the late nights spent in her backyard, finding it hard to ever shut up.

"So. You're back." Eugene states, calm facade finally falling. Clear as day, is the trembling of his hands, the fragility in his chiseled face. He isn't quite looking at her, as much as he's looking through her. Like she's a memory long dead, from his better forgotten past.

She supposes it's not very far from the truth.

"Yeah, I've um, been staying with Hiccup." He knows that, of course he knows that. She's floundering under all the baggage between them. All she hears when he talks is the endless voicemails, begging her to come back to him. This boy turned man that she loves with all her heart.

And that's the crux of it, really. She will always love Eugene, it's as essential to her as the breath in her lungs, or the memories of her parents or Hiccup Haddock. She loves him.

"There's a lot we need to talk about, I think," a simple statement, that makes her heart constrict, "but I'll spare us both the details. I love you, Punz. I think I always will. And I forgive you, just. Uh, thought you should know."

Her eloquent wordsmith, tongue tied and awkward in the middle of a hardware store. Professing his undying love for her. It's nearly comical, would be—she thinks—if it all weren't so sad.

Rapunzel thinks, that maybe those few jumbled words shouldn't have affected her the way they did. Like a punch in the gut, stealing the air right from her lungs. More than anyone (except maybe her parents) Eugene has a right to hate her. And here he is, forgiving like it's the easiest thing in the world. It's earth shattering.

"Thank you. You should stop by Hiccup's if you ever want to talk." She finally manages out, thankful for the nod she receives. He doesn't ask why she went to Hiccup instead of him, what she's doing or planning to do, why she's back. He sees her, as he always has.

He steps forward and looks at her so softly, her heart breaks. "I've missed you." He whispers, as he pulls her into his embrace, kissing her forehead.

-// An Interlude:

"I've decided to abandon my life." Rapunzel announces, flopping down on Eugene's bean bag chair. His current foster family is nice, she thinks, he has his own room this time.

What she doesn't tell him, is that maybe she's serious. That this time, her mother is going too far and she can't imagine lying. That Hiccup isn't ignoring her per say, but he isn't around anymore. That school is getting harder and harder to focus on, when all she can think about is catching the next train out of here. That all this worrying she's doing about him cannot be healthy.

That she is getting terrifyingly close to the edge.

"Take me with you." He grins, turning to face her. And just like that, her day is less gray.

"Of course. We're getting married someday, I can't leave my husband behind." She giggles.

"Why someday? Why not some day very soon?" He sits up, slightly, eyes wider and more clear. The air is suddenly thick where it wasn't. Charged. She feels caged, pressure building uneasily in her chest.

Even though she knows it's untrue, she still tries, "Eugene. You're joking, right?"

He grabs his hair in frustration, shooting out of his seat to pace his carpeted floor. Before she has to open her mouth, Rapunzel can see him put on—what she likes to call—his car salesman. The long winded speeches, big smiles, and worst of all, extremely convincing arguments.

"Why wait? We know we're going to be together, Rapunzel. I love you and you love me. We don't have to wait." By the time he finishes, he is on his knees, hands settled onto her thighs. His eyes are big and honest and she never could say no to Eugene Fitzherbert.

-//

It's never made any sense, him and Rapunzel. Hiccup was an anxious, lonely kid who only had dry sarcasm and too much ambition. Rapunzel was big, too big for her body. For this town. He could see her slowly ripping at the seams, bursting with all that was trapped inside her. She was open and honest and sweet and everything--as far as Hiccup was concerned. He loved her, he can't remember not loving her.

Even when she was ripping his heart out of his chest, he still loved her. Knew then, that no matter what she did or what happened he would love her. He would always love her.

If he's being honest, he can't remember their first meeting. It's more like she's always been there, as constant as the sun in the sky. Hiccup has loved and been loved, but none of that has ever compared to anything he's ever felt for Rapunzel. She was his other half, his person. He needs her like he needs the air in his lungs, and it took being away from her, for Hiccup to realize.

—---

"Rapunzel?" Hiccup calls into the mess that was once his apartment. He barely blinks at it, opting to keep his coat on as he side steps the chair in front of the door.

Rapunzel materializes from behind his coffee table, hair messily thrown up, paint smudges on her cheeks and hands. There's a wet brush behind her ear, that colors blue into her golden hair every time she moves. Her smile is so wide, it looks like it hurts, "Hi!"

He stands there, stock still, heart thudding against his chest. He can feel himself start to tear up, and blinks them back faster than they can fall. Here, frozen in time, is a relic of a past long forgotten.

_Two teenagers crammed in his garage, as Rapunzel wipes her stained hands on her overalls, pleased with her work. "A day well spent, I'd say."_

_"If you like making messes, yeah," Hiccup grumbles, trying hard to fight off the smile tugging on his lips. Rapunzel bumps their shoulders together with an amused eye roll and he gives up._

_Innocent kids humming into the sidewalk, as Rapunzel wipes the back of her chalk covered hand on her forehead, smearing it on tan skin. "It's a sun!"_

_"It's perfect." He'd say without thinking._

It's an all out assault on his psyche. Those times, carefree and nothing to worry about but each other, they're where he retreats without even thinking about it. A box, stored neatly into his brain, marked never to return. To have her here, so much like the girl in his mind, the love of his life, is just this side of too much.

Hiccup fumbles with himself for a second, very obviously worrying Rapunzel. But she stays silent, watching him with stormy green eyes. She's always known when he's needed to sort himself out alone, hovering near enough to step up when he resurfaces.

"You're um, going all out on this, then?" He asks, dumbly. He would be embarrassed if it were anyone else. But she knows him, knows what to look for when all the pieces don't fit.

Rapunzel's eyes soften, head tilts in that way that it does, "I haven't gotten messy in a while." It's all she says, all she needs to say.

\----

In between painting the entire apartment, and making Hiccup take care of himself, the feeling had crept up on her.

Rapunzel feels the itch beneath her skin. Cagey and trapped, fighting for breath as the walls slowly close her in. Rapunzel hears her voice and the eerily disarming hand in her hair.

She wants to puke.

Last time she felt like this, she ran. Destroyed everything and everyone she ever loved in the process. And the thing is, she wants to do it again. Take the clothes on her back, and watch as flames engulf all the memories haunting this town (except it's her, it's always been her). 

But she won't. She sees Jack and Merida in her mind, cautiously hopeful. Feels Eugene's hand in hers. And Hiccup--her Hiccup--patient smiles and loud, surprised laughs pulled straight from his gut. Narrowed eyes and protective glares. Nights sprawled on the couch, mornings grumbling into coffee. She cannot leave all that...leave him.

So she slowly dresses, throws on his school sweatshirt, and her tattered jeans. She is swallowed by his clothes, the sleeves pleasantly falling over her hands. It engulfs her in his smell--open skies and forest, with an undercurrent of oil--something so dizzyingly grounding she has to stop for a moment.

Forever it seems, Rapunzel has avoided mirrors. Terrified she won't recognize the person staring back at her, more terrified that she will.

But today, as she passes the open bathroom door, her reflection stops Rapunzel in her tracks.

She's paler, freckles more pronounced. Her bangs catch her eyelashes every time she blinks, hiding a good portion of her face. She's smaller, dulled.

But, despite it all, it's still her. Same blonde hair, same green eyes. In the shape of her face, and round of her eyes, she is her mother's daughter. A dead ringer. She is Rapunzel Corona. _Corona_.

Forcing a shaky breath through her nose, she grabs the spare key and locks the door, shoves it into her pocket before she can chicken out.

Out in the chill of the winter breeze, she almost loses her nerve, wondering where she should go. An entire childhood in this place, and she feels like a stranger. An imposter. Someone who once was.

As Rapunzel grimaces into the wind, her eyes catch the apartment she and Hiccup once dubbed the Falcon, relief washes over her.

It's where they would go to think, get away when they felt like flying. _As close to touching the sky as we can get,_ Rapunzel whispered one night.

The journey up is steeper than she remembers, climbing the dubiously made fire escape. As she runs her fingers over the cold metal bars, and watches her harsh breath appear in the air, moments and memories wash over her like the tide. She closes her eyes against the old feelings stirring in her chest, tight and warm and so devastatingly familiar.

Rapunzel takes a minute to steady herself against the rails, once she makes it to the top. Both mentally and physically strained. The world feels a little tilted, pressure building behind her eyes. The altitude isn't helping.

"You look like shit."

Rapunzel's heart seizes, spine straightening as she whips around to find none other than Jackson Overland, lazing around in all his glory. Looking for all the world, like he isn't on the top of a very old, very high building.

"Jack." Rapunzel hisses, accusingly, slipping back into her childhood like a costume. Her mothering tone is out faster with him than anyone else. She doesn't know why she missed it so much.

He looks stunned for a brief moment, like most people do when they see her face, or Hiccup when she snorts a laugh, choking on whatever was in her cup. Like they've just seen a ghost.

She supposes they have.

He sobers up quickly, famed smirk crossing his pale face. His stark white hair is still a bit of shock, but he manages to somehow still look like James Dean. "Rapunzel."

"You're on my roof." She tries for casual, walking over to the edge, and sitting down. She dangles her legs over, watching as they block out entire apartment buildings and groups of people.

"I didn't realize you had the monopoly on brooding."

"Yeah, I think I'm better at it than you, anyway."

He hums, amused, but doesn't move any closer to her. "What's wrong?"

"Something has to be wrong?"

"Hiccup stayed up here for hours, after you left. His Dad was going out of his mind, so were we. We didn't know if he’d- _anyway_ he was up here, hesitant to tell us he said, because this was your place. He didn't want you to come back and find us here. He thought you'd be up here, since it's where you go when you're upset. So don't bullshit me, Corona. What's wrong?"

She seizes up, stares up the gray sky, as tears blur her vision. She deserved this, all of it. She hurt him, all of them, she deserved to hear about it.

What's wrong? Such a silly question. Everything is wrong, has been since before she could remember.

"Would it be dumb if I told you I was having boy problems?"

His laugh was loud and melodious, ringing out in the empty streets. The urge dwindles down, background noise.

\----

Hiccup ran a hand over his face, as he leaned against the door to his apartment. The chill in the hallway crept up his pant legs, and into the sleeves of his coat. His cheeks felt pleasantly dull, as he let the day’s troubles seep off of him.

When did it get like this? He wonders briefly. He can distantly recall a little boy with big dreams and a notebook full of ideas. His fingers dark with charcoal at the sketches he still draws sometimes, because they need to get out of his brain. All the ideas he has, wasted into nothing, as he gets his degree and works at the garage.

What is he doing?

He presses his forehead against the cool wood, and collects himself for a moment. If he focuses, he can make out soft grunting and distinct sound of furniture being pushed across the floor. It brings a smile to his face, easy as anything, the thought of Rapunzel pushing her hair out of her face with a pout.

It doesn't matter how it got like this, Hiccup thinks determinedly. Because through all the hopeless madness, Rapunzel is here, a little bent and dented but still Rapunzel.

\----

"You're sure about this?" Hiccup asks her for the thousandth time. He gets this crease between his eyebrows that she feels the overwhelming urge to sooth away. Hiccup has a tendency to get ridiculous and protective that Rapunzel is delighted by, but in this case is a little silly.

She sighs, and bumps their shoulders together, "I'm getting a little stir crazy, Hicster."

"Yeah but we could go-- I don't know, to the arcade or the beach or _anywhere_ but here!"

"We cannot. You have to work dummy, so I'm coming to work with you."

"I have enough hours to take a day--"

Rapunzel takes a quick breath, and abruptly stops, knowing Hiccup will pause when she pauses. She turns toward him, and puts her hands on his shoulders. Her face is stern as she can make it, eyes soft, "I'm here," she expects to feel choked, but the words come out like they were meant to, "I'm- I'm staying right here."

He looks startled, pressing his lips together, in that way that means he's trying not to cry. Rapunzel feels like shit, but he needs to hear this. And she...needed to say it.

She runs her hands up, to cup his jaw, and make him keep her gaze. "Okay?"

It's only a moment's hesitation, but Rapunzel feels it for what seems like an eternity. Like the universe stops and holds its breath, "Okay." And they all exhale as one, relief like water to a dying man.

Rapunzel smiles, something bright and cheerful that doesn't feel quite so forced, "Alrighty then. Gobber always did like me."

The Garage is filled to the brim with machines and cars and tools. It's so messy, amazingly, you can see where everything goes and navigate it all with your eyes closed. Rapunzel wants to be surprised, but that place screams Hiccup and Gobber. (It feels a little like she's remembering details from a book she once read).

Hiccup keeps his hands on her shoulders, steering her through the organized mess. Rapunzel leans back on his hands, so he's doing all of the leg work.

"Okay so talking points--"

She snorts, can't help it, "When have I ever needed talking tips from you, Hicceroni?"

He laughs a quiet, wispy thing, "No, yeah. Just...be yourself, I guess."

"That you?" Gobber is loud, Rapunzel used to sit and just listen to him and Stoick talk, let their voices chase away the loudness in her head.

She feels herself smile, involuntarily, pushing off of Hiccup, "Plus one!"

That, gets a reaction. A bang echoes throughout the garage as his tool hits something big and metal. A hissing curse and then suddenly a big burly man appears in her vision. His long, blond hair always a shock, "You've finally decided to leave your cave."

Hiccup stiffens beside her, and she can feel the rebuttal falling off his tongue. He seems to grow three sizes, like a mother bear protecting its young. Rapunzel interrupts before he can say anything, "I've found compelling enough reason."

"Glad you're back." Gobber says, amused.

\----

"I just don't understand how it happened!"

Rapunzel sips at her milkshake, watching as Hiccup paces a hole into the floor, making a mess of his hair. The living room area is mostly put back together, paint finally dried. She hides a smile into her shoulder as he shoots her a panicked look.

He's so looks so young and frazzled, so much like the boy of her memories. She's hit with a sudden rush of fondness for him, it's almost—it feels a lot like...

"I don't know, it kind of just did. He asked me and I said yes." She shrugs, the pinned feeling in her chest growing more and more by the second. It hurts a little to look at him.

His cheeks are flushed, teeth worrying at his bottom lip. Wide green eyes bright with a signature worry that makes something settle into her bones. She could look at him forever.

He stops suddenly, and gives her an incredulous look, "How do you get a job by accident? Especially with Gobber, of all people?"

"He likes me?" She offers with a shrug and sheepish smile.

Hiccup looks around a minute, then sighs and plops into the seat beside her, angrily sipping at her milkshake, "You suck."

Her laugh feels pulled straight from her chest, hiccuping and reckless and messy, and _real_.

\---- 

Rapunzel is on a coffee run for Gobber when she sees them.

Seated for lunch, with more gray in their hair than she remembers. His laugh cracks a bit in the middle like Rapunzel's does. Her eyes crinkle in the same ways Rapunzel's do.

\----

Hiccup wakes to screaming.

A sickening piercing sound, that cuts through the air and shocks the sleep out of his veins. It's eerily familiar, terror filled with broken, breathless pauses. Rapunzel.

He shoots out of bed, without much of a plan, and darts into the guest room.

Distantly, Hiccup notes that the room looks exactly the way he left it. Nothing a touch out of place aside from the blonde thrashing in unmade bed.

Hiccup Haddock comes with an encyclopedias worth of knowledge on Rapunzel, from her favorite food to what will make bad days a little more bearable. But screaming nightmares aren't a common occurrence, even when they were little and she was still living with Gothel, she rarely ever had nightmares like these.

And when she did, he was still groping around in the dark, terrified of what to do, more specifically; what not to do.

He walks to the side of the bed, and shakes her slightly. "Punz, Punz! Rapunzel, wake up—"

She juts out, arm shooting up to hit him clean in the face. White hot pain blinds him for a moment, dazed and a little impressed with how hard a punch she packs.

He stumbles back into the closet, blinking away tears and cradling his jaw.

Rapunzel sits up, disoriented, breathing harsh, as she frantically looks around the room. When she finally realizes it's him, her eyes widen with grief that feels suffocating.

"Hiccup!" She's stumbling out of bed, getting swallowed by covers and then onto the floor in front of him. She reaches up and stops just short of touching his cheek, fingertips just shy of grazing his skin. He hasn't seen this kind of hesitation in months, years. Since before she ran away. Like if she touches him, the world will stop spinning.

He keeps their eyes locked, tangling their fingers together, as he places both of their hands on his cheek. She sighs brokenly, soft and choked off. Her pale green eyes glassy with tears.

"I- I'm so. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It is, you didn't mean it, Punz. It's okay."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

Hiccup pulls her into his chest, smoothing her hair down as he lets her sob onto his shirt. She feels small in his arms, fragile, as her bones shake with every breath. He presses them closer, and hums into her ear.

They fall asleep like that, curled together on the floor.

\----

Hiccup sits on the counter, clutching the blanket tighter to himself. He watches Rapunzel shuffle through the freezer, shivering as wind sweeps the room. She makes a little pleased sound as she comes across a devastatingly old bag of peas, and turns in his direction.

“Do you want the honors, or shall I?” Rapunzel grits her teeth, trying hard to force a smile.

“I suppose I could stand you doing all the work.”

She snorts, but doesn’t protest, crossing the short distance over to him, to stand between his legs. Hiccup tries his hardest, but can’t stop his spine from tingling as her hand rests on his thigh and the other cradles his jaw. It conjures a memory; short bursts of giggles, and sweet innocent touches. He shuts his brain down before it runs a mile a minute, and focuses back on Rapunzel’s tired eyes.

“How bad?” He asks softly, into the dim morning light. The space between them so small.

She hums quietly, biting her lip, as her eyes glaze over. “Just your standard, run of the mill nightmares, Hic.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

She breathes slowly, “No. No I’m...good.”

_-//An Interlude_

Rapunzel is in so much trouble.

She curls her fingers around her hair, tugging and tugging, as she stares at the broken vase. Mother’s _favorite_ vase. She hadn’t meant to knock it over, she didn’t mean it, she didn’t mean it...

“Rapunzel.” Mother’s cool, melodic voice cuts through her twisting thoughts, easy as anything. Rapunzel thinks she could hear her mother whisper from miles away. She’s standing near the mess Rapunzel made, looking down at her with a perfect eyebrow arched.

Taking a shuddering breath, Rapunzel tugs on her hair again, and glances away, narrowing her eyes. She tries once, twice, to catch her breath. To say anything, try and explain herself but her chest feels tight and her eyes keep watering. “I- I’m so. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, M- Mother, I’m so sorry.”

She hears a soft cooing noise, and feels Mother’s thin arms wrap around her delicately. “Shhh, it’s fine. It’s just a vase, Dear, it’s just a vase.”

-//

Rapunzel isn’t sure what time it is, exactly, or how long she’s been sitting on the fire escape, breathing in the crisp night air. It’s a cool night, and the city seems frozen with it. A few people running into bars and apartments, barely a car on the street. Her teeth ache with the chill in the air, as a sharp wind picks up.

Since before she could remember, Rapunzel’s always preferred the warmer months. Lazing around in the grass with Hiccup, dancing in the Summer sun, capturing a particularly pretty Spring flower between the pages of her sketchbook. But so much has changed, things she never thought would. Things that seemed so intrinsic to her personality are unfathomably missing.

So, now she likes sitting outside and letting the cold purge all thought from her head.

Tonight she made the mistake of dozing off, and woke with a silent scream and covered in stale sweat. She sat there on the couch, shroud in the pale light from the T.v. and tried to remember any one of the techniques from therapy, but she could hardly recall how to breathe.

Which is how she ended up out here, in a pair of shorts and thin sweatshirt, with throbbing fingers and stinging eyes. She’d grabbed one of Hiccup’s forgotten sketchbooks and a pencil almost on instinct. When she was younger, and couldn’t empty her brain, she’d open an empty page and turn off for awhile. Always having a problem sleeping through the night, she worked until the pounding in her head muted to a dull roar. Not as insistent.

Rapunzel was gazing out into the city with fuzzy eyes when she heard it.

A shuffling sound, and sporadic bumps along the fire escape. Followed by someone’s groaned curse.

Her heart hammered in her chest, as she carefully inched on her feet, scared to attract any attention to herself. She reached back to the window, her fingers just shy of grasping the ledge, when the person’s hand darted out and grabbed her wrist. Like the air had been swept from her, Rapunzel’s chest ached, as she swallowed a squeak and was turned around.

“Zel?”

“Merida?” Rapunzel asked, incredulously, facing the redhead with disbelieving wide eyes. Her mouth hung open a bit, as she took in the sight of her once best friend.

Her hair was messy--well, messier than usual--and her makeup was smudged (Rapunzel’s stomach curled at that, when had she started wearing _makeup_?). Her eyes were a bit fried, as she stared equally as stunned to Rapunzel. Which was odd, considering she was the one that lived here.

“Why are you breaking into my apartment?” She wasn’t sure when she started to consider this place hers, but here she is.

Merida leaned against the wall at that, blowing a piece of hair out of her face, “I could ask you the same question.” She said immaturely, hotly.

Rapunzel desperately wanted to roll her eyes, but felt hesitant at being anything other than polite and vaguely compensating in the presence of Merida. She still watched Rapunzel with sharp blue eyes, like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting to scream and rage and protect Hiccup and Jack from maelstrom that was Rapunzel.

Instead she sighed, kept her tone gentle, “You’re drunk.”

“Not by much. I can hold my liquor.”

That, Rapunzel supposed, was true. She’d seen Merida drink enough to knock a horse unconscious, and still manage to win a bar fight. It had been like that since the inception of their friendship. She keenly remembers Merida crying on her bathroom floor, cursing her mother for pushing her, her father for never being there enough, and her brothers for being there too much. She remembers holding Merida’s shaking body as she sobbed about being a failure, the only failure in her family.

Shaking herself, Rapunzel smiles placidly, “Drunk enough to be breaking into my apartment.”

Merida does roll her eyes, turning a burning look to Rapunzel, “Are we still on this? I always come to _Hiccup’s_ when I can’t make it home.” The way she says ‘Hiccup’s’ is so accusatory, so filled with malice, that Rapunzel flinches back a little. She looks into her pale blue eyes, eyes she knew so well, and found she didn’t recognize them at all.

Breathing sharply, Rapunzel wrapped her hands around herself, and tried her hardest not to tear up. _God_ , she didn’t want to cry in front of Merida. Maybe because she didn’t feel like she deserved to, or maybe because being vulnerable and weak in front of _this_ Merida seemed like a very, very bad idea.

“Shit,” Merida hissed, guilty, “Zel I didn’t-”

“No.” Rapunzel interrupted, voice quiet but hard, “You did. Don’t...you meant it, Merida. It’s fine.” She was so tired of people tip toeing around her, so sick of being treated like a flight risk. She found herself wishing everyone would just scream, curse, slap; just get it _over_ with.

Merida, for her part, looked absolutely destroyed. Her mouth opened once, twice, and then snapped shut. She curled her fists, and narrowed her eyes into the distance. She was pulled so tight, looked like the frustrated teen holding her tongue as her mother yelled at her.

She sighed, like it fell out of her, “I didn’t, not- not in the way you’re thinking at least.”

They stayed quiet for a moment after that, Rapunzel in a contemplative silence, “You could just talk to me, Merida. _Please_ .” That didn’t feel quite right, like a few words got lost in translation. _But how do you articulate; please. I need someone to be honest with me because it feels like I might snap with the tension everywhere. Please, I want just one person to treat me like I’m normal. Please, it’s been_ years _and I’m eroding away. Please, please please._

But, Hiccup had always said Rapunzel spoke plenty with her eyes. That you could read an entire sonnet if you just paid enough attention. And Merida had always been sharp.

“I’m not mad at you, I feel like I should say. I’m mad with you, which is completely different,” she sent Rapunzel a look that said don’t interrupt, “You left. _You left_ , Rapunzel. Which hurt, yeah, but not the same for all of us. You were the only person Hiccup ever needed, and you left. You hurt him so badly I thought he might never smile again. I was sure, so sure that you were the only person in the world who would never hurt him, and you did it in spectacular fashion. I’m not mad at you, I swear. I’m mad with the choices you made without telling even one of us.”

It felt, a little like being sucked into a vacuum. The air was suddenly thinner, getting thinner and thinner by the second. Her vision became so blurry she couldn’t see, and her chest didn’t just hurt. It felt like it exploded, blown wide open to void she couldn’t escape.

She knew--especially at the time--what leaving would mean for her family. For her parents, for Eugene, for her friends, for her Hiccup. But she couldn’t imagine being there for one more moment. She couldn’t stay, was the thing. She couldn’t, but it felt like she should’ve. Should’ve taken Hiccup with her, should’ve done anything but leave him behind. Because hurting Hiccup was like stealing the sun from the sky.

Hearing it, like that from Merida, had made her see just how her one mistake ruined everything.

The words felt like they’d been stolen right from her brain. She could not think of a single word to say, how to even mouth her mouth the right way. What could she say?

“I know why you did it Rapunzel. I just...I need you not to leave again. Okay?”

Those used to feel like empty words, and in a way they still do. She still feels prickly at the thought of being in this place forever. Still aches a little where her wings would be, but that’s not what Merida is asking, Rapunzel doesn’t think.

She has always felt like being by Hiccup’s side was the easier than breathing. She tasted separation and never wanted to experience that again. She couldn’t imagine leaving Hiccup.

And if here was where he was, where he was going to stay, so was she.

“Okay.” Rapunzel agreed easily.

\----

Hiccup considered his routine set in stone for the most part. He’d go to school, quickly head back home so he and Rapunzel could walk to work together. After, they would find something to do together, which as of late, included the gang.

From what he could tell, there was very little tension in the air, and that was pleasantly surprising. He was sure Astrid was still on the hunt for Rapunzel’s head, but Merida quit with the murder eyes.

Some days he found time to work on a project that wasn’t for a grade. Some days he would visit either one of his parents. But for the most part, it was school, work, and Rapunzel.

Which was why today was so disconcerting.

“You have the day off. You can’t show up on your day off.” Rapunzel informed him as she dug around in her drawer. Supposedly getting dressed for work. _Without him_. Hiccup laid across her bed, staring at the ceiling with a frown. Trying to project his displeasure to the gods.

“Why not?” He asked, a bit like a stubborn child, if he was being honest.

He blinked, and suddenly Rapunzel’s face took up his entire line of sight. An amused smile quirked up her lips, breathing mingling with his. He felt his head spin a bit, and ignored the fizzle working up his spine. Managing--through years of dedicated work--to keep the frown on his face.

“Because, that’s not how it works. Beside, you need this.” Rapunzel poked his cheek.

“I do not, thank you very much. I know my own limits.”

Rapunzel snorted, and walked off somewhere in the room, “That’s rich. You work and go to school nearly everyday, Hic.”

“The bills have to get paid somehow!”

“Well now I’m a contributing member of this household and you can take days off.”

“What if I just showed up?”

“Gobber has given me permission to forget all other receptionist duties and physically eject you, if need be.”

Hiccup heaved a dramatic sigh, covering his eyes with a hand, “I’m surrounded by traitors.”

“I have no earthly idea how you manage to make a day off sound so unappealing, but kudos.”

Hiccup groaned, and bit his lip. He couldn’t exactly say he wanted to go to work because having Rapunzel watch as he worked on a car, and quietly mumble praise was probably the best part of his day. That any time spent away from her felt like a waste. That he felt like a hopelessly predictable teenager with a crush. It was too much, and he didn’t know if either one of them could handle too much, at the moment.

So instead he said, “I want it officially noted that I, Hiccup Haddock, disapprove of all today’s events.”

“Noted.”

\----

He considered working loudly and obviously just to be contrary, but considered that Rapunzel might get upset, and quickly abandoned that idea. He might maybe... _actually_ need to take it easy for a day. He can’t remember the last time he wasn’t moving, or working or thinking.

There was about three things he could do. Go see his Dad, who was designed to stress Hiccup out. Go see his Mom, who was still a little awkward around him. Or go to the Dragon’s Den, which was definitely the worst idea of the bunch.

Considering all of his options, was how he found himself going grocery shopping.

And in turn, was how he ended up picking up a cat.

It’s so dark--like a black hole in the already dark alley--that he nearly misses it. It’s up on it’s legs, wound like a predator, ready to attack. It’s obviously underfed, but somehow still looks dangerous. It’s got spectacular green eyes, and watches his every moment with deadly precision.

He reaches out his hand, even as he’s doing doing it he can’t fathom why, and tries for disarming.

It hisses sharp, and lunges at him. He notices two things then; the thing is tiny, just big enough to fit in both his hands, and has no teeth.

Hiccup laughs, delighted, and pokes his sleeves at his mouth, only to have it trapped beneath the thing’s apparently hidden teeth. He scoops the poor thing up, and wonders when it was that he lost his mind.

\----

As Rapunzel lays down the cupcakes she picked up (a reward for Hiccup), she’s surprised by the bags littering the ground and the smell of food in the air. Hiccup didn’t cook if it could be avoided, and wouldn’t order without her. She furrowed her eyebrows, and called into the warm apartment, “Hiccup! I’m home.”

He appeared from behind the half wall, with a bright smile, “Hey! I went grocery shopping.” He said, as if that were reason enough for him to take up cooking.

And that was when she saw it.

A small, startlingly black cat with huge unnerving green eyes. She thought, distantly, that was somehow still cute. The first thing to come her mind, however, was _what the hell?_ “Hiccup.” She said, conversationally, finding herself in a staring contest with the mysterious cat she wasn’t entirely sure was actually there.

“Yeah?”

“You’re aware that there’s a cat in the apartment.”

“I am. His name is Toothless.”

Right. Well.

“You didn’t think that was more pressing than the groceries?” She called, a little helpless, marching over to the kitchen.

Hiccup looked absolutely delighted. Flour magnificently scattered in his hair--even though Rapunzel was positive nothing he was cooking involved flour--an apron wrapped around his waist because he thought it was what he was supposed to do; rather than for function, she knew. He looked down at her, with bright green eyes that made her heart hurt.

“I thought the groceries would be more shocking, yes.”

Rapunzel considers all the available information. They had a stray cat Rapunzel was sure had yet to be properly checked out, food in the house for once, and a happy Hiccup.

So she smiles indulgently and leans on the counter beside him, “You know, I was sure I’d be the one to bring home a stray. Also, that’s an objectively terrible name.” She said, just to see him sputter.

\----

Hiccup wakes in the middle of night, goes to get a drink of water, and absentmindedly checks on Rapunzel and Toothless. Who’s turned traitor and decided he likes sleeping her room most nights, than the overly expensive cozy bed Hiccup went through the trouble of buying.

When he finds neither of them there, he sighs softly and goes to look out the fire escape.

Sure enough, there she is, Toothless curled on the windowsill as Rapunzel sits with her sketchbook. He considers going back to bed, and pretending to still not notice the absence of a sleep schedule on her part, but decides enough is enough. It’s been three weeks, and he’s given her plenty of time to deal with this on her own. It’s just that Rapunzel’s way of dealing with things is to-- not.

He rubs at Toothless’ ears, before climbing out the window, bringing a blanket with him.

Rapunzel looks up, but doesn’t seem surprised to see him there. Just resigned.

“Before you say anything, I’m fine.”

Hiccup rolls his eyes, and doesn’t bother answering. He settles next to her, wraps the blanket half around himself, and offers her the other side. He sees the denial on the tip of her tongue, and the exact moment she gave in, and nudged closer to him.

They’re pressed together, touching nearly every place they could be touching.

It’s quiet, as they both look out into the city, the beginnings of the sun in the sky.

“What are you drawing?” Hiccup asks, softly.

Rapunzel tenses beside him, but doesn’t flinch back. She makes a low, strangled sound, dropping her head into her hands. It’s a full minute before she answers, words visible in the cold night, “I don’t know.” Her tone isn’t sad, more somber than anything. On the cusp of a confession, but not quite there.

Hiccup doesn’t need her to answer, doesn’t need to see her sketchbook. It’s been the same thing for years, forever. Pretty little flowers, dainty and colorful.

“I am fine, you know.”

Hiccup laughs, short and surprised, “Say it one more time, and I’ll believe you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay. Let’s head to bed.”

\----

_-//An Interlude:_

“Mother?”

“Yes, Dear?”

“Do you ever get lonely?”

She looks startled, blinking up from her book to give Rapunzel a quizzical frown. Her dark curls frame her face beautifully, in dim light of the fireplace. She’s never a touch of out place, pale skin uncracked, smile cut from marble, eyes as quick as they’d ever been. No wonder she says Rapunzel will have to work to achieve her looks.

“What do you mean?”

Rapunzel huffed, and wrapped her hair around her hand, restlessly, “I just...I mean Hiccup has two parents. They have each other when he’s gone, you know? You only have...me.” Which, didn’t feel like much, Rapunzel thought desperately. But those thoughts weren’t worth repeating.

Her mother laughed, light like music, and rose gracefully from her seat, “Rapunzel, Darling. I could never, ever tire of your company. We’ve always been just enough company for each other. Do you understand?”

She hadn’t meant to, but the smile blossomed on Rapunzel’s face, relieved laughter bubbling in her chest. “Yes, Mother.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

 _“_ I love you most _, Flower.”_

-//

Hiccup and Rapunzel laid face to face, their feet sticking out of the doors of Stoick’s convertible. They were parked near the lake, the radio softly playing in the background. Toothless laid in the passenger seat, completely occupied with his favorite toy.

“What do you want to do?” Rapunzel asked, gently, like it was a secret between them and the stars.

Hiccup laughed lightly, blinking at the sky, “Well I am going to school for Engineering.”

He can tell Rapunzel is rolling her eyes without have to glance over, feels her body coil with amusement and irritation, “What are your dreams?” She rephrased.

Hiccup paused at the question, despite the answer being there, front and center of his mind. It always had been, tinkering, engineering was what he was good at. And he loved it, his brain ran full speed with ideas and plans and blueprints, he was made to engineer.

But--

\--what did he dream?

“I want to see _everything_. Discover everything. Expand everything I’ve ever thought.” It felt like poison on his tongue, sweet alluring poison.

He wanted to see the unending waters, under the never ending sky. He wanted to explore wherever there was something to explore. He wanted to fly, and never stop flying. He wanted to be free for once in his life. 

Hiccup felt shame hot on his back, at his train of thought. His parents had given up so much, done so much for the opportunities he had. His family was here, his entire life was here and he wanted nothing more than to run away from it all. Felt his skin jump with the sudden need of it.

“Well I want Gobber to clean his beard every so often.” Rapunzel said, just this side of too loud. Her voice cutting through every other thought in his head. 

It started with a trickle, Rapunzel puffing out short bursts of laughter, then Hiccup joining, then both of them absolutely losing their minds with the weight of their giggles. Breathless and wild and emptying.

Hiccup didn’t think any other person in his life knew when to push him to talk and when to let his brain cool down. He didn’t think he’d met another person that knew anything quite like Rapunzel did. And as their ridiculous giggles filled the air, he didn’t think he’d ever love anyone the way he did Rapunzel, either.

\----

He tries his hardest to shut the door with as little as noise as possible, but as soon as it clicks, he hears a muffled, “Hiccup?” He huffs softly, and turns to the couch.

Rapunzel is there, lazily blinking up at him, Toothless curled protectively in her arms. She looks messy with sleep, and the sight is much more than he can handle. “You’re home.” She says with a tiny smile. Every time she says that-- _home_ \--his stomach fills with butterflies.

Hiccup smiles involuntarily and starts the process of undressing, “Yeah I am.”

She hums distractedly, trying to keep herself awake even as her eyes slip closed again, “M’sorry. We fell asleep waiting for you.” Her voice trails off into a wispy little snore, making Hiccup laugh quietly.

He tiptoes over to them, and carefully slips behind Rapunzel. Slowly twisting his body beneath hers, and arranging the both of them comfortably on his middle. What appears to be instinctively, the blonde curls around him, hooking an arm around his neck, and keeping one with Toothless.

Hiccup can’t help but smile down at the two of them, and press a quiet kiss to Rapunzel’s forehead. “G’night. Love you.”

And after awhile, he starts to drift off as well, only stopping when he hears, “...Love you too.”

\----

“I love what you’ve done with the place.” Hiccup pauses as he comes out of the hallway, slowly turning around to face this especially silent thief.

Said thief is holding Toothless with a fond smile, like they hadn’t just broken into his apartment.

“You can’t keep doing this.” Hiccup says softly, letting out the breath stuck in his chest.

His mom gave him a gentle smile, the kind she was known for. It used to be Hiccup’s favorite thing in the world, that one look. It could soothe his nightmares and make him forget about the world for just a little bit. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it.

“I thought you gave me the key for a reason.”

Most people didn’t know when his mom was joking. The cadence of her voice stayed the same unless she was intensely angry, in Hiccup’s experience. It was authoritative and non-threatening. She spoke like every syllable had purpose, like she was sure the ground would be there when her foot landed. He’d been told so many times that he was so much like his mom, that they were twins right down to the cellular level. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Valka was someone you had to learn, a code to decipher. Hiccup was clear cut, what you saw was what you got.

He laughed lightly, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “You’re worse than Dad.” In the beginning he avoided talking about the other in his parents’ presence at all costs. But he soon learned there was an odd nostalgic shine to their smile when he did.

“Honestly Lovely, you’ve made radical changes since I’ve last been.”

There were many things he could’ve said to that, many things he wanted to say. Those words that stick to your tongue, that you can’t seem to swallow. The old ones, at the roof of your mouth, and in between your teeth. Words you can see like breath in the cold.

Words you know you’ll never be able to say.

So instead Hiccup puts a placade smile on his face and shrugs, “Toothless is the last major addition to the abode.”

“What about the walls! I’ve been begging you to do something about them for years!”

“It’s been one year, singular, and _I’m_ not the one who changed it,” he offers, walking over to the kitchen, with Toothless hot on his trail, “I am the one who found this boyo, though.”

“Astrid, then?”

He snorts, can’t help it, “Nope.”

“Jack? Merida? _Your Father_ -”

“This would go so much more smoothly if you just let me tell you.”

“Go on then.”

“Punz.” He says breezily, grabbing food for both him and the demonic cat biting at his ankles. He purposely doesn’t meet her eyes, a little scared of what he might see. Sometimes, it’s hard to look at his Mom and not feel years of resentment wash over him. Most of the time, he understands. Rolls his eyes at her antics and takes comfort in the easy back and forth they’ve always had. But if she so much as flinches in response to Rapunzel, he might lose his goddamn mind.

“And...you’re happy?”

“Dad was.” Hiccup says as warning. It’s not like their situations are exactly the same, but they’re not wholly different either.

It’s quiet for a few tense seconds before he looks up to their shared eyes, feels a gentle hand on his cheek. She swallows roughly, before saying, “Okay. You know I don’t do anything to hurt you, right?” It’s only one question, except that it _really, really_ isn’t.

“I know, Mom.” He responds, softly.

\----

“You wanna go to my family dinner?”

Rapunzel looks up from her book, glasses askew on her face. Her nose scrunched, an odd sense of bemusement washing over her, as she pressed her book closed over a finger, “How long have you been standing there?”

Hiccup maintains eye contact, not a shred of remorse on his face, “How long is too long?”

“Probably for however long you were watching me,” she replies, feels her lips indent with a familiar smile,  “I didn’t know your family did dinners.”

He shrugs noncommittally, and Rapunzel really gets a good look at him. His tense shoulders and wary eyes, the way he subconsciously fidgets.

Rapunzel sighs softly and takes pity on him; folds her legs and pats the spot next to her, which Hiccup all but runs too. Her bed isn’t made to fit one adult person, let alone two, so they end up pressed together in every conceivable place. Rapunzel wishes she noticed as much as she probably should’ve. Wishes her body didn’t peel open willingly, for him.

“We don’t usually, but ya know. Mom’s in town. You’re uh, invited, of course. Roommate/best friend privileges and all. Hopefully Gobber will actually show up this time.”

Rapunzel smiles softly, “Well, yeah. If you want me to go, I’m there.”

“Right. Great. Awesome...I uh, I don’t know why I built this up as some huge deal in my head.”

“Because you’re You,” She lays back down, and opens her book, “You staying?”

“Might as well.”

\----

The dinner, as expected goes fine. Stoick is only slightly annoyed with her for going to Gobber first. He bundles her up in his massive arms, and she tries not to cry. Valka shuffles her into the kitchen, as she and Jack get stuck on cutting duty. Hiccup looks so at ease, under his Dad’s attention. Rolling his eyes at Astrid and Gobber, introducing them all to Toothless. Valka tells stories of her latest adventure, showing Rapunzel the pictures she thinks the blonde would like the most. Merida makes fun of her for being a nerd.

It’s...harder than Rapunzel had been expecting. The wave of nostalgia that washes over her threatens to drown her, if she lets it. Her heart feels too full for her chest. She feels a little on edge, like she’s the only one who can hear the ticking, the bomb under the table. The only one waiting for the shoe to drop.

She gets up with a forced smile, and politely excuses herself.

Expectantly, Hiccup gets up with her, his fingertips brushing the vein of her wrist, “You want some company?” It’s tactful, but the worry in his eyes gives him away.

Rapunzel ignores the sinking feeling in her gut, the nagging thought that she’s ruining yet another thing for Hiccup, and quickly squeezes his hand, “I’ll be just outside. It will only be a minute, anyway.” He holds her gaze longer than strictly necessary, before he nods once and lets her go with a smile.

She escapes to the backyard, painful in it’s familiarly. She spent so many summers here, in the Chief's lawn, running around with Hiccup under the summer sun. Taking a breath, Rapunzel lets the breeze take her thoughts with it, as she falls back onto the steps.

Startling, she hears the door open, feels a coat being placed on her shoulders.

“You’ll catch a cold like that.” Stoick. Steady and firm, like he’d always been.

Shrugging, Rapunzel turns a rueful smile in his direction, “I’ve survived worse.” It’s...more somber than intended. She doesn’t even know why she said it.

He grimaces at her words, before sighing and sitting next to her. “I remember this one day, you and Hiccup playing out in the yard. I don’t know whose idea it was, but you two dolts decided to climb the damned tree. I remember Hiccup screaming my name with hysterical tears, sobbing like he was the one who’d fallen. And then there was you, a teary smile, hands on his cheeks, whispering reassurances; even though your leg was split open.”

“Stoick...” Rapunzel mumbles quietly.

“I remember thinking then, that you were the strongest, sweetest little girl in the world. That I would never let anything taint that.” He says, just as evenly.

She swallows, eyes stinging, as she stares ahead. Can’t bear the thought of looking into his eyes.

He takes a deep breath, like he was bracing himself for something. Whatever it was he was going to say, Rapunzel knew she didn’t want to hear it. But, she couldn’t open her mouth to tell him to stop.

“I’m sorry, Rapunzel.” His voice cuts off, wobbles in the middle with what sounded like a cry.

She whips her head around, furrowing her eyebrows at him, “What? What do you mean?”

“I should’ve seen it. It was my job to see it, and I didn’t.” His voice is wrecked, filled with guilt and disgust. Rapunzel’s head felt fuzzy, her lungs collapsed in on themselves, her heart beating into her fingertips. Everything felt off, the world submerged in water. But she latched on to that, the feelings in his voice.

She squeezes her fists, and shakes her head with a frown, “It wasn’t, I promise.”

“It was- _is_. You’d practically lived here, and still, I hadn’t seen it. Hadn’t even thought to see it.” He shakes his head, miserably. It’s the most beaten up Rapunzel’s ever seen him. He doesn’t cry, but only just. Her entire world tilts off kilter, unable to process seeing Stoick--her Stoick--in this state. Her hand twitches with the effort it takes not to pull him into a hug.

“ _Stoick_ , listen to me.” Rapunzel commands, calling upon a strength she isn’t sure she possesses. But his eyes meet hers, and she is filled with determination, “You couldn’t have known, she- _Gothel_ made sure of that, okay? Besides, you saved me in a different way. You gave me _this_ , Hiccup. You were there, when it all got too much. I’m the only one who has any right to blame you, and I don’t.”

And as his eyes softened at her words, Rapunzel realized the air between them was...less. The weight in her gut didn’t feel as heavy, and the ache in her chest loosened.

There was something freeing about saying that. Saying her name. Remembering that she did, in fact, have happy memories with this place, too. About making Stoick feel better, however minimally. It felt _good_.

He pulls her into his side, and his warm chuckle sings in the frigid night air.

The door creaks open again, a pause before Hiccup’s voice breaks the silence, “You two okay?”

Rapunzel looks to Stoick, they give each other equally bright smiles. She nods, and leans into his side, “Yeah. I think we are.”

_-// An Interlude:_

Rapunzel bounces her leg, and takes deep even breaths. The thing is, she’s going to die.

Either Mother is going to _kill_ her (an absolute possibility), Hiccup is going to hunt her down (less likely, but still), or Stoick is going to murder the both of them (which sounds the most reasonable). It was her dumb idea to go trekking into that great unknown behind the Restricted fence, dragging Hiccup along with her. Though honestly, she didn’t think this was entirely her fault. Hiccup should know the police routes considering his Dad was the freaking Police Chief.

So yeah, she was going to die. Sitting in a cell and trying not to freak out, because if she did, Hiccup would lose his mind.

“Rapunzel Gothel?”

Her head shot up, narrowing her eyes at the skinny kid who arrested them.

“Yes, Adam?” She drawled.

He didn’t look any less tense than when he approached the bars. Which was...worrying. She kept her face neutral though, as Hiccup scrambled upright.

“Come with me, please.”

“Oh my gods.” Hiccup paled, turning toward her with wide worrying eyes.

Rapunzel sighed and put her hands on his shoulders, eyes stern, “Calm down, okay? They’re probably just going to ask me questions. It’s my first offense. I’m not going to jail, okay?”

She kept her gaze steady until he nodded, then turned toward Adam. “Do your worst.”

“Or don’t!” Hiccup called as she was led down the hallway.

Rapunzel stayed silent the whole way, trying to stop her brain from spiraling. Everything was fine, she was going to be fine. She’d get home, get grounded and sneak to call Hiccup anyway. They’d laugh and everything would be fine.

“Just go on in.” He said carefully. Rapunzel couldn’t read anything in his tone so she sighed and did as told, for once.

The room was plain, even grays and whites. A large table, windows with blinds, and a tiny t.v. in the corner. There was a nice looking woman, wearing a pressed blazer and knee length skirt. She stood and shot Rapunzel an easy, disarming smile, gesturing to the end seat.

“Hi, I’m Esmeralda.”

“Hi. I’m Rapunzel,” she leaned forward in her seat, and balled her fists on her knees, “Uh, not to be rude, but what is this about? My mom, I mean, I- they called her, right?” Her words fall out all at once, nerves building in her low in her chest.

The smile never leaves the woman’s face, though, “This is...hard to explain, I’m afraid. You see, I work for Child Protective Services--”

Rapunzel’s blood runs cold, “Is- My Mom. Is she alright?”

The woman- Esmeralda, tenses at that, but her eyes stay on Rapunzel. It’s odd, how it stays her panic. It feels a little like her brain shut down, like she’s a million miles away, watching this happen to somebody else. “We’re looking for her. She goes by Donna Gothel, right?”

“Goes by?” Rapunzel chokes.

“It isn’t her real name, and, yours isn’t Rapunzel Gothel.”

Right. Okay, okay, “I’m...I don’t um. Okay. I don’t understand. Where is she? Is she okay? I don’t understand.” She tapers off, whispering and shaking her head. Esmeralda’s words float right through her, in one ear and out the other. She can’t get a grasp of anything.

“You were, abducted not long after your parents brought you home. The woman you’ve been living with isn’t your mother. She isn’t your mom, Rapunzel.” She repeats, like that’s what she wants to stick.

Rapunzel nods, blinking hard, “Okay. Okay. Can you please-- I mean. My mom.”

“She isn’t your mom. You were abducted, Rapunzel.”

Shaking, Rapunzel wraps her arms around herself and tries to catch her breath. She can’t, there isn’t _any air left_ . It’s gone, stolen. Right before her very eyes. “No, no. No, that doesn’t make sense. My mom would never do anything like this! There must be some sort of mistake. Please.” She gets up, tries to head for the door, but Esmeralda is there just as fast. “Please I need to see her. I want to go home. _Please_.”

-//

“Hiccup! Dance with me.”

It’s one of the few nights Dragon’s Den is closed. The lighting is dim and the music is low. Astrid and Merida are sprawled into the booth next to his, playing a drinking game only the two of them get. Jack is swaying to the music with Rapunzel, the both of them singing off key. It’s warm, watching them. It isn’t something he ever thought he’d get again.

When he blinks, Rapunzel is there, staring at him with heavy, half lidded eyes. Her stare pins him to his seat, knocks the air out of his lungs. He can’t place what it is exactly, that undoes him. If its her half smirk, or the way she’s in his space, or if it’s all the alcohol, all he knows is that if she asked for the world, he’d probably find a way to give it to her.

“Dance with me.” She whispers into the heady air between them. Hiccup can’t take his eyes off her lips.

He shakes his head, smiling up at her softly, “You know I can’t dance.” He doesn’t say no, doesn’t think he has it in him.

She braces her hands on the booth, leans down over him and presses their foreheads together, “Just follow my lead.” He doesn’t think it’s fair, the way Rapunzel can upend his entire world with just a smile and her eyes. Regardless, he rolls his eyes and offers his hand to hers. Her answering grin makes his heart stutter in his chest.

_La, la, la, la, la, la..._

Rapunzel drags him to the center of the room, her skirt flutters out as she spins, carefree and open, and right into his arms. A laugh bubbles over Hiccup’s lips as he settles his hands on the dips of her hips, fingers curling in the fabric of her dress. Rapunzel’s head fits snug at the base of neck, breath tickling his skin. _“You’re the only girl my heart beats for, How I wish that you were mine.._.” She sings into his vein, words fanning out over them, sinking into his chest.

Hiccup hopes desperately that she can’t hear his heart hammering in his chest.

She tangles her fingers in his hair, humming into his collarbone.

He noses into wavy blonde, and presses them closer together, _“Oh cherie amour, Pretty little one that I adore, You’re the only girl my heart beats for, How I wish that you were mine...”_

 _“La, La, La, La, La, La...”_ They hum together, completely wrapped up in each other.

\----

Hiccup groans lowly, cracking his neck and blinking blearily at the early morning sun. He glares down at his paper and when the words blur together, figure he should definitely go to bed. He gathers the dishes scattered around the table, and goes to check on Rapunzel.

She’s sitting in the middle of the living room floor, hunched over her sketchbook, eyes glazed over. He knows she hasn’t moved for two hours, since that was the last time she brought him water. He sighs, leaning onto the archway and just watches. Watches the way her fingers trace every line in near reverence. Watches the way her breathing upticks just a little, minute by minute. Watches as she curls into herself, hair curtaining her away from the rest of the world. He watches Rapunzel, and his ribs squeeze around his heart.

“Punz?” Her name feels compelled out of him, pulled from his lips.

She doesn’t respond as he carefully makes his way over to her. Trying his hardest not to think of their first days living together. “Punz?” He calls again, terrified for reasons he can’t really explain.

She turns slowly--so slowly-to face him, hair still covering her face, fingers wrapped protectively around her sketchbook. She doesn't hide it from him, though. Keeps it still in her lap, and Hiccup forces himself to calm down.

It takes up nearly the entire page, long winding lines, sure and accurate and beautiful. He takes another minute to see what it is. The sun. Full of colors that shouldn’t belong there but look like they were made to. It sucks in him while seemingly jumping out of the page.

Hiccup tucks his lip into his mouth.

“...My Dad used to call me, Sunshine,” her voice sounds miles away, “I just...I forgot that. I forgot it, until I flipped through this. I forgot, Hiccup.”

He falls into the spot next to her, puts his hand on the page, and on hers. Finally, Rapunzel looks at him. Watery and unsure and _sad_ , but still there. He lets out a tiny breath--banishing the look she gave him before hopping on a train and leaving--and curls their fingers together.

“She called me Flower. And I’ll never forget that.” Her breath comes out jagged once, before she collapses into Hiccup’s arms, tears staining his t-shirt. He cups a sure hand behind her head, blinking out into their dark living room, feeling guilty and helpless.

“I wanna see my Mom and Dad.” She sobs into him, clutching his shirt in her tiny fists.

“Okay, Punz. Okay.”

\----

Rapunzel adjusts her tights and pulls on the end of her dress, frowning into the car window. She feels Hiccup over her shoulder, pretending not to hover. She rolls her eyes and turns to face him. He gives her an uneasy smile that’s meant to supportive.

“Out with it, Hiccington.”

His smile widens into something more sincere, hands sliding into his pockets, “You’ll be fine.” He deflects, rocking back on his heels, looking for all the world like the awkward teenager she knew best.

Rapunzel narrows her eyes, avoiding looking at her parents’ stupid gigantic estate. Frustration curls up and around her throat, anger simmering just beneath the surface, “Thanks for the confidence, Hiccup.” She snaps. And it’s, not fair. She knows he’s just worried about her, but she’s got enough nerves for the both of them.

He cringes back, and flits his eyes away from hers, “Sorry. I’m just- are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

“Yes, I’m sure, Hiccup.” She says tightly, before turning and marching her up to the gates.

The thing is, she shouldn’t need a babysitter to see her parents. And she doesn’t really, they’re lovely people, sweet and polite. The problem is, she’s seen what parental relationships ought to look like. Hiccup and Stoick’s often rocky relationship was still there. Hiccup could talk to his Dad about absolutely anything. Jack and North got along like nobody’s business. Merida and her mother even had their shared memories to link them together.

Rapunzel...her biggest link to them is the blood in her veins, and those awkward months she spent at the Corona Estate, trying not to fall apart or let them down.  

So, she’s a little nervous.

What if, what if she never gets that with them? The easy intimate thing she knows should be there?

As she stand on their front door, listening to the flurry of movement inside, she cannot, for the life of her, remember knocking.

The door flies open-- and, there they are. Arianna and Frederick Corona, a little grayer and more worn than she remembers, but them. Her Mom’s hair falls in soft waves down her back, just like Rapunzel’s. Her Dad watches her with wide warm eyes, as big as hers. She’s them, the both of them; she’s theirs.

“Uh, Hi.”

“Rapunzel, you’re here.” Frederick says gently, seems to stop just short of pulling her into his arms. Rapunzel isn’t sure if she’s grateful or hurt.

“I am. I’m back,” she eases a smile onto her face, and cups her hands behind her back, “I’m sorry it took me so long to...come around. I’m sorry.”

“No! No, don’t be. We’re just glad you’re here now.” He assures.

Arianna steps forward, apparently thinks better of it, and sighs shakily, “You would mind- I mean. Could I hug you, Rapunzel?”

She thinks about it. Her brain running wild with all the times she spent wrapped in in Gothel’s arms, how different hugs meant different things.

She breathes once, twice, and nods.

\----

“You can’t keep dodging their calls.”

“I don't know what to say to them! I mean, I go to work, I hang out with you. The end.”

“They’re your parents, Punz. They just want to hear your voice.”

“I can’t talk, if we have nothing to talk about. How did you and Stoick get over your...issues?”

“...We forgave each other.”

\----

Hiccup stretches back on the couch, narrowly avoiding knocking Toothless to the floor. Astrid is gulping down another cheap beer beside him, as they passively watch whatever movie comes on _SciFy_. It’s a secret between them, that Astrid loves space movies.

“I haven’t been here in months.” She says suddenly.

Hiccup doesn’t startle, all too used to Astrid coming up with conversations in the middle of nowhere. He reaches over to finish off her crust and hums in acknowledgement.

“I used to come over every weekend and I haven’t been here in months.”

He snorts, “You did not come over every weekend.”

“If I didn’t, you went to the Den.”

“I’d probably follow this conversation easier if I weren’t missing parts of it, Astrid.”

She sighs, and kicks her feet up on the coffee table. Hiccup’s immediate thought is that Punz would be annoyed if she were here. As if she could read his mind, Astrid sends him a self satisfied smile that Hiccup isn’t particularly inclined to read into. “Where is Blondie tonight?”

“She’s spending the weekend with her parents. 

“And where was I last weekend?”

“I’m gonna assume at the Den. Is there a point you’re planning on getting to soon?”

Her blue eyes darken before she scowls at the ceiling, crossing her arms. Hiccup unconsciously tenses up, averting his eyes.

“You’re not dense, Haddock. Don’t make me say it.”

“Since when have you had trouble saying exactly what’s on your mind?”

Astrid lets out a short puff on laughter, disbelief bubbling over her lips. It sounds off, somehow. Unlike the person Hiccup likes to think he knows pretty well. “After we broke up, we promised we wouldn’t cut each other out of our lives, Hiccup.”

“ _Astrid_.”

“You really aren’t together?” She asks after a moment.

“Punz? No, we’re not- no, Astrid. We aren’t...dating.”

“How do you feel about her, then?”

And isn’t that the million dollar question? For his entire life, Hiccup hasn’t be able to pin down his feelings for Rapunzel. Hasn’t found a word that could possibly encapsulate everything they were. He _loves_ her. Not like he loves his parents, or Jack and Merida, or even how he loved Astrid. He loves her, and even that doesn’t feel like enough. It’s too small, too narrow. He loves Rapunzel. He feels like an entire person with her around. He’s always wanted so much, always seen more than what was in front of him. But gods, there isn’t anything in the world he wants more than he wants Rapunzel.

He loves her; utterly, completely, entirely.

“I don’t know.” He answers honestly, how do you put to words something that cannot be named?

\----

“Why did you run away?”

As spring gives way to Summer, it’s almost been a year since Rapunzel knocked on Hiccup’s door. It feel longer, or maybe shorter. It exists in this space wholly it’s own. Suspended away from everything else. Like the minute she came through his doors, her life reset.

And through it all, he hasn’t asked that one question. He hasn’t demanded anything of her, actually, he never really has. The only person in her life who never looked at her and saw someone else. Something to control, something to protect, something lost. To Hiccup, Rapunzel has always been his best friend, in whatever shape that took. She’s never considered how much she depended on that until now.

She owes him the answer, though, that she knows. So she opens her mouth, no matter how much she wants to go into her room and close the door. He’d let her, she knows. He would drop it to avoid the fight, even if he spent the rest of their lives desperate to know.

“I...my whole life was a lie. Everything that I thought was, suddenly wasn’t. My life was supposed to be something completely different. And I was meant to be grateful I had this family I couldn’t possibly remember.”

He nods, hurriedly, to quickly to actually mean anything. He turns to look at her, digging his back into the couch, and unfolding his legs. “Right. Okay. I get it, I assumed that, you know. I still don’t- _Punz_. Me and you? We weren’t a lie. We weren’t changing.”

Rapunzel drops her head into her hands, curling her fingers into her hair, “But we were, Hiccup. We were going off to college, and you met Astrid and I was suddenly supposed to be _marrying Eugene_ . Your mom left and mine apparently didn’t exist. I didn’t- _I couldn’t_ deal with it.”

He groans low and hurt, before getting up and pacing around the coffee table. Hands clasped at his side, his hair flopping on his forehead. He doesn’t say anything though, and that’s scary. That’s an unthinkable thought, that he might...that he didn’t have anymore to say to Rapunzel. That this was something they couldn’t fix.

She scrambles to her feet, stopping just shy of crowding his personal space. Fists her hands in her skirt, “Hiccup, please. Are you mad at me?” She feels dumb saying it. Little and lost, like the scared child Gothel left for days on end.

He sighs, stops and looks up at her, eyes softening. He takes a step between them, not enough to close the space, “No. I’m mad at myself, I think. You felt like you couldn’t talk to me.”

Rapunzel makes a wounded noise, and finally reaches up to grab his hand, bringing it to rest right above her heart, “Hiccup, no, no. It was not you, I promise. I was young and dumb and I felt trapped in a life I didn’t recognize. I wasn’t thinking about anything but escaping that feeling, when I did it,” she squeezes his hand, “It was absolutely everything else, but it was not you.”

His eyes gloss over as he wraps Rapunzel in his arms, laying his head on hers, pressing them flush together. They stay like that, shakily breathing in each other, finding their footing together.

“I’m not going to ask you to stay, but _please_ tell me before you go.”

Rapunzel rocks up on the balls of her feet, cupping Hiccup’s face in her hands, “I’m never leaving you again.”

\----

Hiccup tilts his head back, laying on Rapunzel’s stomach, as they stare up at the clear night’s sky. Unclogged by the city, and the lights. The summer air is sweltering, but the sound of the ocean is so incredibly welcome, he almost doesn’t mind.

He hides a smile as she tangles her fingers in his hair, humming contently. Toothless curls at his side, making little wisps of sound, but Hiccup understands all the same.  

“I’m gonna hate going back.” He whispers.

Rapunzel runs her fingers down his chin, tilting his eyes toward hers, “We have forever to have adventures, Hiccup.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, two people who are going to read this. 
> 
> Uh, listen. It's not exactly a chaptered fic, but it is long as hell and really it's taken me way too long to finish. If you have any feedback or comment it would be The Most Appreciated. (if you find any mistakes, please point them out, I've read this a thousand times and I literally cannot look at it anymore). I want to thank--seriously with all my little heart--Raychel (@iamtotallycool) and especially Julia (@guardian-of-feels) who helped me with this. 
> 
> Anyway, if you're interested I have little vignettes and snapshots of their lives Before, During, and After this monster takes place, so I could write those. 
> 
> (Sidenote; I'm really sorry if the ending felt rushed? It's just there was nothing to write after that, that would've been relevant to this particular story.) 
> 
> Thank for reading, pals.


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